Please turn with me in your Bibles to First Corinthians, chapter one. First Corinthians, chapter one. In one of Paul's other letters, he tells us that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. I thought it would be good for us this morning, as we begin a new year, to take stock of a spiritual inventory.
We find that in verses 30 and 31 of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where the Apostle Paul tells us what it is we have as Christians in our Lord Jesus Christ. I do want to begin reading in verse 18 so you can see the larger context. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised. God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
Just read the verse five in chapter two. And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank you for the Holy Scripture. We thank you for your wonderful gospel. And we pray that you would just cause us as your people to take heed to the blessings that we received in Christ Jesus. We pray for those who have not yet received these glorious things.
We pray that you'd open their minds and their hearts. And we pray that you would cause your spirit to be at work in our midst. We pray that you would forgive us for all of our sin and anything that would get between us and a proper understanding of Holy Scripture. We know that your word is the power of God unto salvation.
We know that in your gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. We pray that not only in this place, but throughout this world, as the gospel is preached today, that your word would run swiftly and be glorified. and that a great multitude would call the Lord Jesus Christ their own, by your grace, through faith in him. And we ask for Jesus' sake, Amen.
Scripture Reading
Well, as I said, we're going to look specifically at verses 30 and 31, where Paul, the apostle says, but of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. And then he goes on to explain. He tells us specifically what that means. In other words, we might read the text. who became for us wisdom from God, that is righteousness, sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
Now, the larger context here, we see Paul setting forth the supremacy of the Christian gospel. Paul lived in a world very much like our own. He lived in a world that was filled with various philosophies. He lived in a world that had competing world views.
He lived in a world that he ministered in a context where people were hostile toward the Christian gospel, not unlike what we face today. You can believe just about anything today. But if you believe the truth of the gospel and you insist upon its exclusivity, then you are castigated. You are called a bigot or you are put down in some other way.
Well, the same thing was true in the Roman Empire. You could have any number of gods. You could have a whole variety of gods. You could have anyone, anything be your God.
But the Christians were put down and rejected and oftentimes persecuted because they proclaimed one God. They proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not worship Caesar, who demanded such in that particular age. They would rather, and they would profess Jesus as the king over the nations.
And as a result, they incidentally were called atheists in the Roman Empire. The Christians were the atheists. And they were persecuted for such. So that's Paul's context.
Corinth was a city that was given over to a lot of wickedness and a lot of sinfulness. But it also was filled with philosophy and with competing worldviews. So what the apostle is doing is demonstrating the glorious supremacy of his gospel. He calls it the foolishness of God.
He is speaking as a man. He goes on to say that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man. He says this gospel appears to be foolish in the minds and eyes of those who have not received it. First of all, because of the message itself, the fact of a crucified redeemer.
I mean, this was an offense. We see what Paul says to the Jews, a stumbling block and to the great foolishness. Just reviewing a book recently on the history of the Roman Empire. And there is an actual picture that they reproduced from a jail cell.
And in this jail cell, one man was making fun of another man who was a Christian. The way he did this was that he put a picture on the wall in the jail cell. It was a cross with a man on the cross who had a donkey's head. It was foolishness to the Romans.
It was foolishness to the Greeks. It was a scandal to the Jews. They didn't think their Messiah came to die and to rise again. They thought Messiah would come to put down the Roman government and to exalt the Jewish nation.
So they missed the boat. So the glory of the gospel is seen in the gospel itself. He goes on to say the glory of the gospel is seen in its recipients. That's what verses twenty six to thirty or thirty one are all about here in First Corinthians.
He says, You see, you're calling brethren that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. The idea is very simple. You don't become a Christian because you're a wise man. You don't become a Christian because you're a smart man.
You don't become a Christian because you're a wealthy man. You become a Christian by a supernatural work of God most high. You become a Christian by his doing. And the glory of the gospel is seen in that.
And then in chapter two, verses one to five, the glory of the gospel is seen in that God would use a man like the apostle Paul as we would see him as a hero, as a heroic, courageous man. He tells these Corinthians, I was with you in weakness, in fear and in much trembling. Just the opposite of what you would expect. If you were going to try and advance a new philosophy, advance a new religion, you'd get very prestigious men.
You'd get very polished men. You'd get very capable and able men to have them promote the new religion. That's not the case. Paul said, this is what I'm about.
I was weak, I was fearful, and I was in much trembling. He says, my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom. In other words, he couldn't stand toe-to-toe with the orators of his day. He couldn't stand toe-to-toe and give these beautiful flowery speeches.
But what he did have was the spirit and the Holy Spirit came and demonstrated power in the preaching of the Apostle Paul. And it was manifest in the salvation of their soul. So that's our context. That's the basis upon which Paul declares in verses 30 and 31 what these Corinthians had in the Lord Jesus Christ and what we, by God's grace, have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what you may have today, if you put your faith in this redeemer, if you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Lord will consider three observations this morning in verses 30 and 31.
Three Observations Introduced
The first is the source of gospel blessings. And when I use the word gospel, I use it in its familiar sense of good news. The gospel is simply the good news that Jesus came into this world to live in obedience to his father's law, to die as a sacrifice and substitute on Calvary and to rise again and have sin enthroned at the right hand of the father. The Bible says all those who look in faith to him will have everlasting life.
So the source of gospel blessing. Secondly, an inventory of gospel blessings. And then thirdly, the goal of gospel blessings.
Source of Gospel Blessings
Notice first the source. Paul says very clearly in verse 30, but of him you are in Christ Jesus. We need to appreciate that for a moment. We're Christians here this morning.
If we are entering in to a new year, if we have made some resolutions to be a better guy or a better girl, if we have sought to or if we have prayerfully sought to to see how God might use us in this world, we need to remember always we are where we're at by grace alone. But of him, he says, you are in Christ Jesus. You are not in Christ Jesus because you're good. You are not in Christ Jesus because you have performed well.
The Bible is very clear. There is none good. There is none righteous. The prophet Isaiah and Isaiah 53 says all we like sheep have gone astray.
And I'm genuinely convinced we don't understand the doctrine of sin. We don't understand the effects of our depravity. People oftentimes think that they, by a bit of moral reform, that they, by a little bit of trying harder, can breach the chasm between God and them of their sin. You can't do it.
No one can. It is by grace that we enter in to this salvation. It is by grace we participate in the mercy of God. It is grace and grace alone.
It's not by our works. It's not by our contribution. It's not by our merit. If we believe for a moment that we have something to throw into the lot, that we have something to throw into the mix, then we've denied the very gospel itself.
If we think we can boast before our God in something we've achieved, then we have not learned the gospel itself. Paul is very clear. It is not our wisdom. It is not our might.
It is not our nobility. It is nothing in our hand we bring. It must be a simple clinging to the cross of Jesus, of Him, by Him. You are in Christ Jesus.
And this jives with the rest of the New Testament and the old. Remember when Peter said to Jesus that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Remember, Jesus response to him. He doesn't say you've learned your theology.
Well, Peter, you've studied. Well, Peter, you've arrived at a doctrine that other people haven't, Peter. No, he says, Blessed are thou, Simon Barjona. Blessed means happy.
Happy are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven. James says of his own will, by the word of truth, He brought us forth. You might hear that and you might think, well, what hope is there? If I'm not in Christ, it all depends upon God.
What hope is there? There is great hope because God is merciful. God is kind. God is about demonstrating His powerful arm before all the nations that He is Savior, that He is Lord and that He is Redeemer.
It is not the result of man's own doing. No Christian should ever congratulate himself or herself of their position before God. It ought never to be the case that we stand with that publican and say, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like other men. I thank you, Lord, that I fast twice a week, that I give tithes, that I do all these good things.
No, we must always be like that publican who beat his breast, would not even look up into heaven, but who said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. It is not by works of righteousness, which we had done, but of him you are in Christ Jesus. Paul writes in Romans 9 16. It does not depend upon him who wills or upon him who runs, but upon God who shows mercy.
That's a humbling doctrine. We need to be humbled. We need to be laid low. J.C.
Ryle, in his commentary on the Beatitudes, said if we would build high, we must begin low. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. We need to be humbled before this triune God.
Inventory of Gospel Blessings
Now, notice, secondly, he highlights this inventory of gospel blessings, what speaks Spurgeon called a fourfold treasure. He says, first, that Christ is our wisdom.
Christ as Our Wisdom
We don't need to apply to the stoics or the Epicurean philosophers. We don't need Aristotle. We don't need Socrates. We don't need Plato.
We need Jesus. We might bring that idea into our own day and age. We don't need all of the things that that musicians and the media and politicians are trying to sell us. We don't need their method or their means of self redemption.
We need Christ our wisdom. This statement or the statement notice in verse 17, contrast the wisdom of words in the cross of Christ. Notice in verse 17, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. It doesn't depend upon our ability to argue in, argue you in.
And it depends on the power of Jesus Christ and his doing and his dying. Depends on the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the wisdom of God. God looked down upon a debauched and reprobate people.
How would they be saved? The mind of God. It worked this way. He would send him his son. would send the Lord Jesus Christ and that son would be the surety of a better covenant.
That son would obey the father. That son would die for sinners. That son would rise again. This is the wisdom of God.
You don't get to heaven by your means or by your works. It's through the wisdom of our God. In verse twenty three, what Paul says, I love this statement. Verse twenty two, he says, for Jews request a sign and and Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block into the Greeks foolishness. That beautiful. You might ask somebody, who do you think Jesus is? They'll say, oh, he's a religious teacher.
He started a new religion, right? He was a good example. That's not how Paul sets him forward. The Jews want a sign and the Greeks want wisdom, but we preach what Christ and him crucified.
Why? Because that's where redemption is. The Bible is clear without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And God sent His perfect Son as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
This one who was crucified, according to verse 23. This one who was a scandal or a stumbling block, according to verse 23. This is something that offends to the point of arousing opposition. You see that in the life and the ministry of the Apostle Paul.
Read the book of Acts sometime. See what happens when he would go into a Jewish synagogue. See what happens when he would teach them their scriptures. And then when he would get to the Lord Jesus Christ, How did they respond?
They cast him out. They wanted to destroy him. They wanted to get rid of him. Why?
Because it was scandalous that the Messiah would die on a tree and rise again for the saving of sinners. He was a scandal to the Jews because a crucified Messiah was an oxymoron. Just didn't make sense. Gordon explains it this way, one may have a Messiah or one may have a crucifixion, but one may not have both, at least not from the perspective of merely human understanding.
Messiah meant power, splendor, triumph. Crucifixion meant weakness, humiliation, defeat. Little wonder that both Jew and Greek were scandalized by the Christian message. But Paul says, for those who have believed, For those who are in Christ Jesus, Christ is the wisdom of God.
Do you look at Christ that way? Do you look at Christ that way? I'm convinced that if we do, it will affect our habits when we understand what Paul says later in Philippians two, when he says in whom Jesus are hidden, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. How will you not read the scriptures as a Christian?
How will you not listen to sermons? How will you not enjoy Christian fellowship? How will you not saturate yourself in the understanding of just who Jesus is? Later in First Corinthians to 16, Paul's going to say we have the mind of Christ.
Christ wasn't lazy in his communion with the father. Christ got up a long while before daylight and prayed. Christ was in the synagogue on the Sabbath to study the scriptures. Christ was about those things.
If we have received Christ as the wisdom of God, we ought to pursue that wisdom with great joy, with great happiness. You know, there's scholars out there that devote themselves to worldly philosophy a whole lot more than Christians devote themselves to an other worldly philosophy. Do you realize there are people that are out there seeking actively to learn Plato or Aristotle or whoever the philosophers of today are? And yet Christians have to be have to be harangued in reading their Bibles.
I just have this zany idea, brethren, that if you are in Christ Jesus and you have appropriated the wisdom of God, you're going to want to grow. You're going to want to understand. You're going to want to learn. You're going to want to stretch your mind.
You're going to want to try and take in more of the Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist said, great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. There's botanists and zoologists and all kinds of specialists out there who are studying the works of the Lord, the creational works.
Christians need to study the redemptive work of the Lord. Christians need to take the mind of Christ and apply it. And if you don't know Christ today, you're not going to find wisdom out there. Wisdom is to be found in the Lord Jesus, the one in whom.
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. You want to learn? Come to Christ. You want to understand the world around you?
Come to Christ. You want to understand your own place before a sovereign God? Come to Christ. That's the message of the Holy Scriptures.
Christ as Our Righteousness
Notice, Paul then goes on to explain this wisdom of God, he says, Christ is our righteousness. If you've been following along, you will have already understood. We don't have a righteousness before God apart from Jesus. We cannot offer to God our good works.
Just imagine for a moment, if you were 20, I don't know who's 20 here and who isn't. I just threw out a random number. Don't think if you're 20, he's picking on me. I'm not.
But imagine for a moment you wandered in here, you're hearing this stuff. You say, wow, this God really is holy. He really is amazing. He is a righteous God.
And you leave with this idea. I'm going to get better. I'm going to fix up my life. I'm going to stop doing this.
I'm going to start doing that. I'm really going to get my act together. Now, just imagine with me for a moment that you did that. And then you went out and lived in a sinless 20 years.
You can't do it, but just for the sake of argument, let's suppose you could. You might think, wow, I've got this 20 years of righteousness that avails with God so that when I die, I can stand before him and say, you know, here's all the good things that I've done. Here's all the bad things that I've avoided. You know what God's going to say?
I don't know if you're going to say it just like this. But what about that first 20 years? What about all that sin you eat up in those first 20 years? What becomes of that?
Oh, I didn't think about that. That's right. We don't think about that. We don't think about the great disparity that exists between God and us.
That's the glory of Christ, our righteousness. We can't do it. We can't avail. We are in Adam, according to the Bible.
We in Adam died. And as a result, our lives are lived in a state of rebellion against this God. We need a righteousness that avails with God. We need a righteousness that is spotless.
We need a righteousness that is pure and lo and behold, in the gospel, Christ is our righteousness. Pastor Kim read from the beginning in the beginning of the service this morning from Romans three. Romans is a beautiful document concerning the righteousness of God. Paul announces the very theme of the letter in verses 16 and 17.
He says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, not ashamed of it. Why would he say that again? Various philosophies, various worldviews, various competing ideas. He would go to places and be put down.
We think we're the only ones who I tried to witness at work and they thought I was weird. You don't think they thought Paul was weird. I wanted to share the gospel, but I was afraid. Paul prays or asks the Ephesians to pray that I will speak boldly as I ought to speak.
Why? Probably because there was a native hesitation in his own heart. But he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. Why, Paul?
For it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. You'll know church history, you'll know that's the text that God used in the salvation of Martin Luther.
Martin Luther thought he could avail with God. Martin Luther thought he could work up a righteousness. Martin Luther thought he could stand before God by doing the right things, by atoning for his own sin. When he came to Romans 1, 17 and 16 and 17, he understood it.
He said paradise opened up on that day. Why? Because what Paul is saying is that in the gospel, the righteousness that God demands, God supplies. In the gospel, the righteousness that God requires, God gives.
And it's in Christ, our righteousness. This is why Paul can say in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, He says, God made him Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He doesn't mean we become better performers. We become better workers.
He's talking about position. He's talking about a legal declaration. He's talking the language of the law court. We are the righteousness of God in him because of his righteousness given to us.
Paul and Philippians chapter three makes an amazing argument there. He says, if anyone has reason to boast in the flesh, it's me.
Philippians Three: No Confidence in the Flesh
Turn to Philippians three for a moment. I think it sheds light on this whole reality of the righteousness of God, which is Jesus Christ. Philippians chapter three. Context is Paul is calling the Philippians not to fall prey.
To what was called the Judaizers and basically the Judaizers were people who came to the Christian churches and said, it's a good thing you believed on Jesus, but you also need to get circumcised. You also need to do works. You also need to fulfill certain requirements. So Paul writes to the Philippians and says, beware of these people.
You see, Paul's mindset when anybody tries to add works to faith, that's wrong. When anybody tries to help Jesus in the saving of his soul, that's wrong. In fact, notice Paul's statement, verse one, Philippians three. Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord.
For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you to save. Beware of dogs. Not talking about canines, not talking about pit bulls, not talking about Rottweilers. Some of us are very afraid of big dogs.
I just went out the other day to my van and there was a big dog. I thought he was going to dart across the road. I was terrified. Thankfully, a car came and he stopped.
He might have been just coming over to sniff me or lick me or whatever it is that a big dog wants to do. But I was terrified. I'm OK with my little dog, but a big dog that I don't know or understand scares me. That's not what Paul's appealing to here.
He's not talking about the canine phobia that some of us possess. And Philippi was just uniquely given to that. No, it's a play on words. Jews used to call the Gentiles and still do dogs.
Paul says, beware of dogs, these Jews who are going to come into a Christian church and tell you that faith in Christ is good, but you also must be circumcised. Paul says, beware of those dogs. He says, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. They're not seeking circumcision, they're seeking mutilation.
He goes on to say, for we are the circumcision was circumcised in the New Covenant, but a believer on the Lord Jesus. It was a Jew biblically defined and according to Romans chapter two, it's a believer on Christ. He says we are the circumcision. The NAS has it.
We are the true circumcision who worship God in the spirit, literally boasting in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. You see that? We as Christians have no confidence in the flesh. We don't put stock in our righteousness.
We don't put stock in our law keeping. We don't put merit in what we can do. We look to Christ. We boast in Jesus.
We rejoice in his work. We commit our souls to him, to a faithful creator. Now, notice what Paul does. Verse four, though I also might have confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I'm more so. You see what he's doing. These guys are going to come into your church. They're going to say it's good to believe and it's good to work.
Paul says no. If anybody thinks they could work and make it to heaven, Paul says, before I became a Christian, I was the man. You ever send out a resume. The employer gets the resume and he looks at your accomplishments, he sees your education, he sees where your experience is, he sees your references and he is able to gauge your performance.
And you're just hoping that your resume does someone else's resume so that you'll get the job or you'll get the interview. This is Paul's religious resume says, if anyone thinks that he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. If anybody wanders in thinking they can work themselves into heaven, listen to my pedigree, he says. Circumcised.
If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I'm more so. Verse five, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. You see that everything's satisfied. It's a great checklist.
Stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, circumcised eighth day, in the right place, right time, right people, right covenant. Everything is in order. Did that avail with God? No.
That's why if you are sitting here thinking that you can... You're different. You're different than everybody else. You've never killed a man.
You've never done any of the big sins. Surely you'll be able to make it into heaven. No. Paul's resume outdoes you.
But what does Paul say? But verse seven, what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, count them as dung. Count them as something good to throw to the dogs.
He's not saying, oh, I wish I had those things. I'm so sad. I'm so grieved. No good riddance.
When he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, it leveled him. He began to understand things properly. He understood the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and that by his works he could never achieve heaven. It was through Christ and through Christ alone.
Notice in verse nine, and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, that means those things that I did, those things that I performed, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. That's the righteousness that we need. That's the perfection that we must have.
It's not a change in our character. It's not a change in our declaration. It is a legal imputation of Christ's righteousness to our account. It is legal and blessed be God for that justice.
That's the reason sinners go to heaven. If you're familiar with the book of Job, you'll remember Job nine. How can a sinful man stand before a holy God? Through Christ, nothing in my hand, I bring simply to thy cross, I claim foul eye to the fountain fly.
Wash me, Savior, or I die. You see what we have in Jesus, brethren, we have a righteousness that avails with God. We have a perfect righteousness. We have a purity.
We have a holiness. We will stand before the triune God of heaven and earth. and hear that blessed statement. Come, come, well, come, blessed of my father, enter into your rest, not because of what we've done.
Christ as Our Sanctification
Paul goes on to say Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our sanctification. Charles Hodge says, with reference to righteousness and sanctification, these are intimately united as different aspects of the same thing. Righteousness is that which satisfies the demands of the law as a rule of justification.
Sanctification or holiness is that which satisfies the law as a rule of duty. Christ is both to us. The idea is we don't just come to Christ and get justified. We live in Christ for sanctification.
You don't fight against sin in your own strength. Paul in Romans 8, 13 says, if by the spirit you do mortify the deeds of the body, you will live. It's a spiritual exercise. You live the Christian life every day in 2010, every day in 2011, every day in 2012, every day in 2013.
Every day in 2014, every day in the 2090, should God tarry and we make it that far, you live by grace through faith in Jesus. I always believe this is a message that is very necessary when there's a series on the law or on duty. I believe in preaching on the law. I believe on Christian duty.
I believe that God has called us to live in a certain way. But we must always be reminded, he has called us to live in a certain way and obedience to his law through the power of Christ. Through Jesus. Through his sanctifying influence in our life, and
Christ as Our Redemption
then Paul finishes by saying Jesus is our redemption. Our redemption, I believe the context, I believe that the statement here refers to our final redemption. The moment you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are justified. The moment you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you have passed from death to life.
The moment you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are heaven bound. The thought here with reference to redemption is that the day of judgment, the consummation of all things when we stand before him. So in essence, what Paul is saying that Jesus is our the wisdom of God from A to Z. from beginning to end, from beginning, middle and end. He's our righteousness.
He's our sanctification. He's our redemption. The thought is that you will never, ever live in your own strength. You never, ever depend upon yourself.
You always constantly depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is our surety that indeed we will be counted blessed in the age to come. Somebody says to you, why are you going to heaven? The answer is not because I'm a pretty good guy.
The answer is because Jesus is a most excellent savior because of his life, because of his death, because of his resurrection.
Goal of Gospel Blessings
Now, notice, finally, the goal of gospel blessing, verse thirty one, that as it is written. He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. You see, it has to be this way. Because if we contributed to our righteousness.
If our redemption hinged upon our performance. If our works added to our position before God, there would be room for boasting, but the gospel is designed in such a way that all boasting is in God, all boasting is in the Lord, all glory is given to him. So that when you turn to the book of Revelation and you see those saints in heaven before the throne, do you know what they're confessing? They're confessing that salvation belongs to our God and to the lamb.
It is all of grace. It is all of grace. The glory of God is the goal of gospel blessing. Isn't that beautiful?
You might say, well, the glory or the message of the gospel so that I can go to heaven and I can be happy. That's a corollary. The primary function of the gospel is that God would be magnified, that God would be glorified, that God would be exalted. God says this very clearly in the prophet Ezekiel.
I'm going to draw you out of the nations. I'm going to sprinkle clean water on you. I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to do all these things that he promises to do.
And they're fleshed out in the New Testament. And he says so that all the nations may see that I am glorious. And what Paul has in his mind is Jeremiah, the prophet, verse chapter nine, verses twenty three and twenty four. Thus says the Lord.
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me. that I am the Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these, I delight, says the Lord.
The glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ is God himself. You are saved to worship. You are saved to praise. You are saved to bring glory unto him.
Application
Well, we learn a few things and then we close first. The doctrine of soteriology, that simply means the doctrine of salvation. Salvation. It is of him that we are in Christ Jesus.
Why do I repeat this, because it needs to be repeated, sometimes we can get very proud, sometimes we can get very arrogant and in that we are very offensive. Christians should be the humblest people on the face of the earth. It's an unfortunate reality that it doesn't always happen that way. We can be offensive, we should be offensive and insisting on the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ.
That's where the offense should come, not because we're arrogant, not because we think we're something, not because we think we're able to dazzle people with our arguments. No, but of him you are in Christ Jesus. But as well, that's a means of encouragement. Sometimes we can get down as Christians.
Sometimes we can imitate the psalmist in Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 says, Why aren't thou downcast? Oh, my soul. Hope now in God. We're where we're at because of God.
God is for us. Paul uses this Romans 8. God is for us. What can man do?
Be encouraged, brethren. Sent out a quote yesterday from Machen from a book called What is Faith? Beautiful, beautiful quote. But the one that I put on the calendar, been on a bit of a matron cake cake recently, is just a wonderful theologian.
Sometimes we struggle with our weak faith. We might see somebody that's so full of zeal, so full of life, so full of joy, we judge ourselves as messed up. Then we begin to doubt, we begin to wonder if we're really even in Christ, because if you're in Christ, you'll be happy, peppy, holy and bouncy all the time. You look like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.
We've got whole branches of evangelicalism out there selling that sort of Christianity. She'll always be happy, always be happy, always be bubbling. Well, I'm sorry. There are seasons of Psalm 42 and 43.
There's times when you're downcast. There's seasons in the life and history of Christ's church where they need to take seriously James's statement, lament and mourn and weep. Maybe you shouldn't be so bouncy, happy and joyful when you're a wretch. We might judge ourselves as being outside because of weak faith.
Love what Machen says, weak faith will not remove mountains. Will it? You may never go conquer India for Jesus. You may never stand on five corners with a sign and a bullhorn and preach the gospel to every passerby.
He says weak faith will not remove mountains, but there is one thing at least that it will do. It will bring a sinner into peace with God. Weak faith, saving faith. It's the absence of faith that ought to give you great concern, but if you're looking to Christ, you're living according to the Bible.
He goes on to say, our salvation does not depend upon the strength of our faith. Saving faith is a channel, not a force. If you are once really committed to Christ, then despite your subsequent doubts and fears, you are his forever. So take it away from you and ask recently, you think a Christian can lose his salvation?
Absolutely not. Christ doesn't give you a righteousness and then take it back. Well, what about my uncle Chewie, who lost it? Well, your uncle Chewie never had it to begin with.
Because when God saves a sinner, he doesn't let them go. Weak faith is still saving faith. It may not remove mountains, but it brings peace with God. You look today and you'll live.
So the Bible says. I imagine on that wilderness day when all of the Israelites were bitten by serpents and then Moses came and erected this brazen serpent and told everybody to look and they would live. There were probably a few Israelites who cocked their head faster than the rest of them. But the one who barely moved it and looked lived just as much as the first guy.
You look to Christ and you will be saved. Doesn't matter how old you are. Doesn't matter how young you are. Christ is our righteousness.
Secondly, we need to make much of Christ. That ought to be the defining thing in our church and in our lives. It ought to be Jesus. We ought to say with Paul, the apostle, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
That involves the entire counsel of God from Genesis to Revelation. It involves knowing the Scriptures. It involves memorizing the Scripture. It involves being able to tell people the Scripture.
It involves prayer. It involves loving Jesus, studying Jesus, seeking to be like Jesus. Not because we'll be saved by being like Jesus. We've already been saved.
We must follow Him as our Lord. And then finally, as I've already mentioned, If you've come here today and you don't know this, Jesus, he says, not Jim Butler, not me. It's Christ. He says, look and live that beautiful, not go do go fix, go put it all back together again, get everything corrected and then come.
No, Jesus says, come with your sin. Jesus, like a doctor. In fact, the scripture calls him a physician, or at least the Puritans called him a physician. It's implied for sure.
The doctor doesn't tell you, you need to go get healed and then come and see me. You go fix that broken arm and then I'll look at your broken arm. But sinners think that way. I know.
I used to think I got to get things straight. I got to fix this. I got to solve this. I got to put this back right.
And then I'll be ready for religion. That's not Christian religion. Christian religion says return backsliding children and I will heal your backsliding. You bring it to the Lord Jesus, he washes, he cleanses, he forgives.
We're studying the prophet Zechariah in our evening services, and there is a statement in there that encourages the true believer. It says, in that day, talking about when Jesus would come, there would be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. You bring that sin, you bring that uncleanness to the Lord Jesus and he washes you. You receive his righteousness by grace through faith and you will have everlasting life.
May God indeed take these things and press them on our hearts and may God indeed press his people to a thankful, joyful Christian service under him, not the Tigger type, but that joy which goes deep, that joy which understands gospel truth. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for the Holy Scriptures and we thank you for what we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We praise you that he is the wisdom of God, that he is our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And I pray that all of us would glory in the Lord, that all of us would praise you and worship you. That all of us would just seek in all that we do, God, to do it for your glory's sake.
We pray for the preaching of your gospel throughout the earth today. We pray that you would apply that righteousness of Christ to a great multitude of sinners and cause many people today to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And we pray in his blessed name. Amen.